Author: bbaile14

Assistant Professor / Digital Projects Librarian for Johnson County Community College

Some Library Housekeeping…

A few announcements we haven’t really talked about on the Internet, but probably should have…

  • We’ve installed print management.  This is the end of free printing in the library in an effort to a) encourage you to get more green, b) get your professors to stop making you print so much, and c) collect some losses from non-students who take advantage of our services.  All enrolled students will have a generous number of free prints each semester. Feel free to talk to the reference desk or comment on it in the chat widget (to your right if you’re on our blog’s page.
  • The library catalog will be going down and coming back up a few times this week.  Our catalog’s server has what we’ll politely call “issues”.  Here’s an accurate depiction of our server right now:

Needless to say, we’re working on it.

  • Our very own Judi Guzzy is presenting at the KLA conference about her sabbatical project, which took a comprehensive look at the strengths and advantages of library consortia. We wish her luck!

That should cover it for now.  Here’s an inspirational librarian video.

It’s Intellectual Property Piracy!

People are taking artist’s music and illegally distributing it!!  That’s right, folks: people have been  copying sheet music for hundreds of years!

Piracy : The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates is actually a pretty awesome account of how sneak-thievery of intellectual property wasn’t born with Napster or other filesharing sites. This is a neat book for people interested in copyright and IP law, the tensions between creators and imitators, and what has been done to detour this for the last few hundreds of years. A pretty interesting thing to think about, no?

For All the Faculty Mentors and Mentees

You may be a faculty mentor, or perhaps have one.  My faculty mentor was awesome, and I hope yours is, too.  If you are on either side of this relationship and struggling for things to talk about or ways to handle it, check out our new book: Faculty Success Through Mentoring : A Guide for Mentors, Mentees, and Leaders. It’s probably for the best.

And mentees: make your mentor buy you coffee! A lot happens over coffee.

The Only New Item Added Today

The only item we’ve added to our catalog today is a romance called Wedding Season. Here’s the first sentence from the description:

Sarah is a wedding planner hiding a rather inconvenient truth – she doesn’t believe in love.

I think you know where the story goes from there. So if romances are your thing, then it’s your lucky day up in JCCC.  While you’re here, check out other books in the McNaughton Collection: leisure reading on loan to academic institutions.  They’re on the second floor next to the circulation desk (as seen below).

An Abundance of Opposing Viewpoints

You may be aware of our Opposing Viewpoints database. However, if you have a paper or interest based around a topic that might be attached to a controversy or be related to current issues, you might want to check out our collection of Opposing Viewpoints published collections.  They take on a topic, highlight issues within the topic, and present scholarly articles and opinion pieces to explain the pros and cons within.

A quick list of some of the new topics added or updated:

  • Fashion Industry
  • Mass Media
  • Male and Female Roles
  • Latin America
  • Immigration
  • Global Warming
  • Debt
  • Culture of Beauty
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Copyright Infringement
  • Gangs
  • Behavioral Disorders

… and so on.  Check’em out.

Second Chances: We’re All About Them

Look, we know that some people come to JCCC to rebuild from a past they’re not necessarily proud of.

That’s OK. In fact, I’m encouraged by every single student that walks through our door hoping to make their life better.

So let’s say you’ve got a few marks on your legal record. Part of the social contract is that when you’re out, we as an institution don’t really care about what has happened; it’s our job to get you back on your feet.

It is why we have books like Best Jobs for Ex-Offenders.  If you, a friend, or a loved one is in what sports teams call “The Rebuilding Phase,” then it might be worth figuring out what career paths JCCC can lead you to. Flipping through this book will hopefully help you realize that the scope of a professional future aren’t as narrow as it may seem.